Affection Meaning
/əˈfɛk.ʃən/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounThe act of affecting or acting upon.
nounThe state of being affected, especially: a change in, or alteration of, the emotional state of a person or other animal, caused by a subjective affect (a subjective feeling or emotion), which arises in response to a stimulus which may result from either thought or perception.
Sentence Examples
The baby transferred its affection to its new mother.
Every mother has affection for her child.
Children need lots of love and affection.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
None
CEFR Practice Quiz
She showed great ____ for her new puppy by giving it many hugs.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
He showed great ____ for his young children by playing with them every day.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English affection, affeccion, affeccioun, from Old French affection, from Latin affectiōnem, from affectiō; equivalent to affect + -ion.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"A Porism is a proposition in which it is proposed to demonstrate that some one thing, or more things than one, are given, to which, as also to each of innumerable other things, not given indeed, but which have the same relation to those which are given, it is to be shewn that there belongs some common affection described in the proposition."
— 1756, Robert Simson, Euclid's Elements:
"Our affections for wild animals are distributed very unevenly. Take insects."
— 2013 August 23, Mark Cocker, “Wings of Desire”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 11, page 26:
"It is known that each individual has a variety of affections, one affection when in joy, another when in grief, another when in sympathy and compassion, another when in sincerity and truth, another when in love and charity, another when in zeal or in anger, another when in simulation and deceit, another when in quest of honor and glory, and so on."
— 1905, Emanuel Swedenborg, chapter 27, in John C. Ager, transl., Heaven and Hell:
"Mr. Bennet missed his second daughter exceedingly; his affection for her drew him oftener from home than anything else could do. He delighted in going to Pemberley, especially when he was least expected."
— 1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], chapter 61, in Pride and Prejudice: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC:
"What is more, they are protected from even such discomfort as the dislike of his prisoners may cause to a gaoler by the hypnotism of the convention that the natural relation between husband and wife and parent and child is one of intense affection, and that to feel any other sentiment towards a member of one's family is to be a monster."
— 1908, George Bernard Shaw, Getting Married: Spurious "Natural" Affection:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
She showed great ____ for her new puppy by giving it many hugs.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
He showed great ____ for his young children by playing with them every day.